I had the pleasure of interviewing romance author, Chelsie Hart, to talk all about her journey as a writer and her debut novel, Golden Hour.
As an aspiring author and book lover, I've read many different genres and works of many different authors. I have my go-to authors that I will always return to but I also enjoy reading new authors.
One of the new authors I've discovered this year is Chelsie Hart. Now, Chelsie was a fellow book reviewer but is now a self-published author.
Recently, after having followed Chelsie's journey from reader to writer and reading her debut novel, I had the opportunity to interview her.
Much like in my interview with Cressida McLaughlin, Chelsie and I spoke about her writing journey, her first published book, and her current work-in-progress as well as a game of Would You Rather.
Chelsie was so nice and lovely. I'm really grateful I got the opportunity to speak to her and meet her - even if it was virtually.
So read on to see my interview with Chelsie Hart.
My interview with Chelsie Hart
WriteWatchWork: Chelsie, you started out as a book reviewer on bookstagram, but now you're a self-published author. How did becoming an author come about? Was it something you've always wanted to do?
Chelsie: When I was in high school, I started writing a book because I've always loved reading. It was terrible; I found it when I was cleaning out my closet in my childhood home and I was like, 'Oh my gosh, this is awful!'
I've always wanted to write. I've always felt that I had cool stories swirling around in my brain. But it wasn't until I started reading romance that I found what I was good at writing. I had tried several different genres and nothing had ever really clicked for me and then I started reading romance and I was like, 'Hey, I could do this.'
I would say reading the likes of Lexi Ryan's books really helped me find my voice. She's one of my favourites and then also Nikki Castle and Lulu Moore were pretty big influences on me starting to write.
WriteWatchWork: And you're an indie author having gone down the self-publishing route rather than a traditional publishing house. What was the reasoning behind this?
Chelsie: Traditional publishing is kind of intimidating generally. Who knows if you would ever really make it that way? But apart from that, I just like to do what I want and I don't like people telling me what to do.
So the thought of someone being like, this is what your cover is going to look like or I don't like this part of your writing, change it to something else, I don't think I would handle that well.
I'm generally really good at handling criticism, but I think if someone was talking to me like you have to change this stuff in your book otherwise we're not going to publish it, I think I would have a really hard time with that. So I felt like indie publishing was the way to go for me. Plus, I don't work well under deadlines.
WriteWatchWork: How did it feel to publish your book and hold the physical copy in your hands?
Chelsie: It was wild! When I got my author proofs back that still had the grey band across the front of them, I was like, 'Oh my gosh, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever held in my hands.'
I was so excited. It's just so crazy to have a physical piece of something you've worked so hard on. It's not just a Kindle copy, it's a physical thing, so that was really cool to be able to flip through it and be like 'I wrote this.'
WriteWatchWork: Has publishing Golden Hour changed your approach to writing in any way? Are there any lessons you learned that you can bring forward to writing the other books in the series?
Chelsie: Actually, I started writing another series in 2021, I think, and with that one, I was just writing it in order. I didn't have anything planned out, it was a fly-from-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of thing; I was just writing whatever I wanted.
And then when I started writing Golden Hour, I plotted everything in an Excel sheet, each chapter and what I wanted. I plotted out each chapter and what I wanted to happen in each chapter and then I would write whatever the vibe was that day. I would pick a chapter and then start writing it.
WriteWatchWork: As you just mentioned, you plotted out each chapter for Golden Hour. But when coming up with the initial idea, did you start with the plot first or the characters?
Chelsie: The characters, definitely. I'm a big country music fan, not so much stuff that's come out recently, but my family, our history is a lot of country music. My family has blue grass bands and they're all very musical, so I grew up listening to '70s and '80s country music.
And so, I always imagined all of these women, country music artists from that era, what they would be like if they were all friends and not famous. So I wanted to write a book about that. I wanted to see what it would feel like to have all these normal, sassy women from rural America being friends.
WriteWatchWork: That's really cool that you've taken inspiration from your childhood and what you knew growing up. But my next question is how do you get yourself into the writing zone and how do you overcome writer's block?
Chelsie: I think my husband would laugh really hard if he heard you ask if I have a routine. I am the least regimented person ever - it's awful and not great both in writing and motherhood. I need to be better at it.
I'm terrible at getting routines started and following through on them, so when I was writing Golden Hour, I was working part-time most of the time, so I would either text my husband and say, I've got to go to Starbucks once you get home from work so I can get some writing done, or I found this little Bluetooth keyboard and it hooked up to my phone. I'd take it to work with me and write on my breaks.
It was pretty much just between working part-time and taking care of my kids, it was just writing here and there, whenever I could find the time. I wish I had a routine, that would be amazing, but I also don't think it's in the cards for me.
As for writer's block, I would either just listen to music or get on Pinterest and look at my aesthetic boards. Or I have a note on my phone for each book where I'd write little ideas and so I'd go on there and pick a quote that I had thought of and written down, and then try to write off of that.
WriteWatchWork: As we mentioned, you were an avid reader before you became an author. But now, when you read books by other authors, do you find yourself having an author's eye and noticing things that perhaps you wouldn't have prior to writing your own novel?
Chelsie: Yes, it's a blessing and a curse because I feel like I'm more picky with what I spend my time on. I've always been pretty picky; I don't read books that I'm not into, I'll DNF a book 10 pages in if I feel like it's not what I want to read right now.
But I feel even more so now if there are even just two sentences in a row that start with the same word, I'm out. I have such a more critical eye that it's hard to break out of that.
WriteWatchWork: If you were to ever try your hand at another genre, what genre would it be?
Chelsie: So actually, whenever I was in college, one summer I read 20-30, which is not that much now that I read romance books, but one summer I was home from college and I read a bunch of Young Adult dystopian, like The Hunger Games and Divergent and stuff like that.
I have a notebook filled with dystopian world-building, I did the whole thing, I thought of literally everything. So if I ever wanted to switch, I think I would try to pick that back up, but I don't know if I would ever switch.
WriteWatchWork: And how do you deal with both the positive and negative reviews of your book? Do you read them at all?
Chelsie: A lot of the advice that authors I've known for a while gave me was to not read the Goodreads reviews, the negative ones, but I can't stop myself. So I read them anyway.
But they don't bother me. I try to keep in mind I don't like every book that I've read, it's not going to happen. People aren't going to like my book and that's totally fine.
If they're mean about it then I will just send a screenshot to my friend and be like, make me feel better about this. But more often than not, I'm okay with it. I was a journalism major in college so criticism is kind of the name of the game. So no big deal, I just let it roll off.
WriteWatchWork: That's good, a good mindset to have because sometimes you can get bogged down so it's good to let it bounce off you in a way.
Chelsie: You definitely can, but I was like, if you're going to read these reviews, you've got to be able to let it go.
WriteWatchWork: In Golden Hour, there is such a vast cast of characters and they're all so different. Which character resonates with you the most that you've written?
Chelsie: It would probably be a mixture of June and Louise. I'm from a really small town and when I was growing up, there is this pressure when you're from a small town to look a certain way, be a certain way because news travels fast. It's very gossipy and people know all your business and they all have opinions that they will freely share with you.
So I feel like there is a lot of pressure when you grow up in a small town to put on a façade of perfection. But with Louise, her character is really - you guys don't know her a ton yet - but her character is really like a nurturing type of person. She likes to care for Goldie and her friends, pretty much anyone she can get her hands on. And I like to think I'm like that - I try to be, I like making people feel special and cared for.
WriteWatchWork: Which character was the most challenging to write? Or will be if you haven't written their story yet?
Chelsie: I think Beau is going to be a little bit hard to write. Just because he is more quiet, not grumpy, but kind of quiet and only says something when he feels it's important to say that thing.
So writing a character to depict what they're thinking and feeling without having to say a whole is going to be challenging, you know. I feel like authors sometimes really depend on a lot of dialogue to tell instead of just show, and so I feel like Beau will be challenging having to really flex those show muscles instead of just using dialogue to get the point across.
WriteWatchWork: Out of the characters you've written so far, were there any you disliked writing?
Chelsie: I don't think so, I had a really good time! As far as the three best friends go, I wrote them based on all of my favourite parts of my friends and family members. I just wanted them to be a mixture of all the best parts of all of the women that I loved. And yeah, they're flawed, but not that flawed.
So I've really enjoyed writing them. The men have been an interesting little journey for me. Grady started out as one thing and then ended up completely different for me. I loved writing his character and everything that he went through. So far, I've really enjoyed writing all of my characters.
WriteWatchWork: You just mentioned Grady's character changed throughout the writing process and Golden Hour is in dual point-of-view. What was it like writing Grady's chapters and having to be in the mindset of a male character?
Chelsie: That was harder than I thought it was going to be and I asked my husband a lot, obviously we're not writing men that are actual men because that would usually suck, but I would ask my husband, is this something so off-base from what a man would say or do, if I felt something was iffy.
So he was a big help to me in trying to find my way. But it ended up being a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. It just kind of happens when you start writing from a male point of view and I did rewrite a couple of his first chapters because by the time I'd reached the end of the book, I thought his voice was more established in my head, so I did end up rewriting a couple of things, but it just kind of happened.
WriteWatchWork: One thing I particularly struggle with is coming up with the names for characters, locations, etc. How did you come up with the names for places, characters, etc. in your book and the trilogy title, Porch Bitches?
Chelsie: As far as the three main girls, I just go on Pinterest - that's where I find all of my names - and I looked for Southern names and Western names. I really like old-fashioned names so that's where June and Louise came from.
Delia's was a magazine, a clothing magazine, that I got in the mail way back in the early 2000s and I have always loved that name. That's the only reason that's Delia's name because of that magazine and how much I loved that magazine.
Maple Creek, I just wanted to name it something really salt-of-the-earth. It's not anything special, it's just a little town and then as far as the trilogy title, I knew I wanted them to have a place where they always went and I liked the idea of it being at Louise's house because she's the caregiver of the group.
Some of my best memories growing up were sitting with my mum and my grandma on the porch swing, enjoying the quiet of living in a small town and that's where you solve all your problems. You're just swinging and talking and then by the end of the evening, you're like, alright, I've got it all figured out now.
So I obviously wanted it to be on the porch and then I was like, what is this book about and what would make it funny because I like to be funny so my thought process led there.
WriteWatchWork: You're currently writing book two in the series, Wilder Days, which is Delia and Kacey's story. How is that going so far? Are there any details you can tell us at all?
Chelsie: I'm terrible at being hush-hush at anything, so I'll tell you anything you want. It's going well. I think I've shared this a little bit here and there, but me and my husband and our two children, are currently living with my parents.
We moved from St Louis where we'd been living for the past five years, and we got some land and we're getting a modular home. And so we're living with my parents, I'm working on the family farm and it's harvest season so my life has been super hectic lately.
So I'm writing literally every spare moment I have. It's been a challenge. So far, I'm loving both of the characters. I was so excited to write Delia in more detail and get inside her head because she's like who I always wanted to be; I always wanted to be the person who's like, I said what I said and consequences be damned, this is who I am, get over it.
But I am so far the opposite of that. Inwardly, I feel like I'm like that, but outwardly, I'm not like that at all. So it's been super fun to get inside her head and it's just a stream of consciousness that I'm word-vomiting out on the paper.
I'm going to go back and maybe get rid of some of it, maybe not because that's just who Delia is. When it pops into her head, she just says it. So that's been super fun and it's been fun to write Kacey. I just wrote his very first scene where he's still in the city and his life there and how he's coping with his life. I've written scenes with him in them already when he's already back in Maple Creek and the part where he and Delia are already back together. So it's fun to get in his head.
WriteWatchWork: If you could give one piece of advice to aspiring authors, what would it be?
Chelsie: It would be to write for yourself. I feel like especially if you've been in the Bookstagram world for a while, it would be easy to get caught up in the tropes that people are enjoying right now instead of writing the story that you want to write.
I know small-town romances are really big right now, but if that's not your wheelhouse then don't write a small-town romance. Write the book that you want to write and people are going to read it.
WriteWatchWork: One final question. This is related to books but not your books. I saw on your Instagram that you like Lexi Ryan's series. Now I love this series but I've never found anyone else who has read it and liked it, so I have to ask: Which book is your favourite and which brother is your favourite?
Chelsie: I think my favourite one - I get all the titles mixed up in my head all the time - but it's Molly and Brayden's book, Wrapped Up in Love I think it is. I loved them so much. I love Molly's whole vibe, I loved her from the moment she appeared in the third book. And my favourite brother, I really liked Carter.
I never understand why I don't see that series more often, I think it is incredible. And I'm rereading them now, because like I said, they were some of my very first romance books way back in 2020, and so I'm rereading them now to be like, was it just because they were some of my first books or are they actually as good as I remember. And they are.
And that's a wrap! I hope you enjoyed my interview with romance author, Chelsie Hart.
Until next time...